Throughout the week I get the opportunity to sit down with 38 people and talk to them 1 on 1 about how their health and fitness goals are going.
And I LOVE it.
Because I get so much insight as to what’s going well, what they’re struggling with, where their mind is, so on and so forth.
And something that has happened in the past came up again last week.
And it shouldn’t frustrate me as much as it does, but I can’t help it.
But maybe it should frustrate me that much…
It’s certainly not everyone’s goal, but it’s the goal of 70% of the people.
Each week when we sit down to discuss how last week went and how this week is going we discuss their habits.
Have they been getting their workouts in?
Have they been eating healthy meals?
Have they been drinking their water?
Have they been eating healthy snacks and sweets?
But this week, something happened again.
Like it has in the past.
And like it will happen again in the future.
But I have to put an end to it.
Last week there were 2 friends in the group talking about each other – Ryan and Devin. (made up names)
Ryan was pumped for Devin because he had lost 4lbs in the first 3 weeks of the program.
And Ryan told the entire group that Devin lost 4lbs and that we should all give him a round of applause for doing so.
I stood reluctantly applauding.
Yes, I was happy for him, but when we were finished, I told the group this.
I know a lot of you want to lose weight, but that can’t be the thing we applaud. That can’t be the thing that brings joy, happiness, and fulfillment.
That’s a recipe for psychological and emotional disaster.
We should be praising him for eating healthy. For getting in all of his workouts. For making healthy choices when he’s been going out to eat. For regulating his alcohol intake when he’s been going out.
We should be praising his attitude, his effort and his execution.
We should be praising the process.
It might seem like the same thing.
But when we praise the attitude, effort and the execution, we’re praising what you can control.
And that's much healthier than praising the result.
How does this show up in your life? How can you change what you praise?
Do you praise your kids for their report card? Or for studying hard?
Do you praise your friend for making a lot of money? Or for putting in the extra hours at work?
Do you thank your significant other for the expensive dinner? Or do you thank them for spending the time to think about you?
Do you praise the result? Or the process?
Let’s be intentional about how we dole out our praises.
Because:
1) What we praise gets repeated
2) What we praise is what others will latch their definition of success onto
Praise money and people will attach success to money rather than hard work.
Praise weight loss and they’ll only be happy when they lose weight rather than when they workout.
Yes, we set a goal. And you better be damn sure I’m going to do everything in my power to get you there.
But we don’t focus on it. We focus on the process.
We praise habits.
We praise attitude.
We praise effort.
We praise execution.
Keep in mind, it’s okay to praise the result every once in a while.
But if it becomes a habit, it gets dangerous.
Praise attitude, effort, and execution.
To being obsessed with the process,
